There is a huge discrepancy in marriage rates between social classes in the North, a new report has revealed.
‘Mind the Gap: Marriage and Family by Social Class in Northern Ireland’, published by the Iona Institute, shows that for many of the more socially disadvantaged in Northern Ireland the dream of walking down the aisle will never become a reality.
The figures, derived from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) show that 60.7% of upper professional workers (‘Social Class A’) aged 18-49 are married, compared with just 32.7% of unskilled or elementary workers (‘Social Class I’).
The huge discrepancy indicates that there are formidable social impediments to marrying for people from socially disadvantaged groups. Moving down the social scale, the likelihood of being married becomes progressively less in almost every category of workers.
“These impediments need to be fully explored and, where possible, removed,” said Tracy Harkin of the Iona Institute, continuing, “Anyone who believes in the importance of marriage should be deeply concerned about these figures. Why is it that the better off a person is, the more likely they are to be married, and the less well-off they are, the less likely they are to be married?
“Social disadvantage clearly diminishes a person’s chances of marrying and not marrying in turn increases the odds of remaining socially disadvantaged. It is a vicious circle and it is one that obviously affects children as well,” she said.
Pointing out that poorly paid insecure jobs drive down the odds of people marrying, Ms Harkin also said that the social welfare system can discourage marriage by making it more financially advantageous for two people on social welfare to remain single than to marry.
“We ought to be able to agree that the big marriage divide which exists between the social classes is a matter of grave concern, something that must be tackled by our politicians, other policy-makers and opinion-formers,” she said, calling for a public debate on this as an issue of equality.